The 5 Best Comic Book Series Written by Grant Morrison

While Grant Morrison's name may not be as well known as Frank Miller or Alan Moore, he is one of comics shining stars. Much like Moore, Morrison was recruited from the U.K. in the '80s to help reinvent franchise characters for DC comics. Over the years Morrison has done more than simply refresh classic characters however, he's used unique and detailed storytelling to re-imagine and re-contextualize these heroes. It this outside of the box thinking, along with a penchant for employing mysticism, mediation, classic literature, mythology, and other ideas from the realm of the spiritual and supernatural that has made Morrison one of comics top writers. While Morrison has handled a number of fantastic mini-series and other graphic novels, he has also left his mark on five major comics series. Below, in no particular order, you find descriptions of these five series and just why Morrison deserves all the praise he has already received for them.

Animal Man
In 1988 DC Comics asked Grant Morrison to start an Animal Man series. Up until that time Animal Man had been a minor character with a cliché origin story revolving around a crashing spaceship that provided Buddy Baker with the power to assume the abilities of any animal he was in the vicinity of. Morrison's take on Animal Man was immediately different as it focused on Buddy's personal life with his wife and two children and how he struggled to support his family and be a super-hero. One of Morrison's interesting twists was to have Buddy convert to a vegetarian and begin fighting for animal rights. Still, it was Morrison's eventual deconstruction of Animal Man's reality that the series is known for, as Buddy is slowly made more aware of the fact that he is indeed a comic book character.

Doom Patrol
In 1989 Morrison picked up the already running Doom Patrol series and proceeded to take the characters in that book back to their days as a freakish and mentally-fractured team of heroes who were just too weird to fit in with the rest of tights and capes crowd. It's here where Morrison's ultra-creative brain really started to take off. From the story of a living book that is warping reality and releasing scissor-handed villains, to a hero with multiple personalities that each have their own powers, a super-hero that is followed by cameras every day (yep, he hit on the reality show idea way back in the '80s) and even a band of villains that used Dada art as their inspiration, Morrison was bursting with original and highly mind-bending ideas.

The Invisibles
In 1994 Morrison finally stepped into the world of creator-owned series with The Invisibles. The comic was bizarre and complex tale of hidden agents battling to expose the inhabitants of our plane to true existence, while another group of dark and powerful individuals sought to suppress humanity with rose-colored glasses. With a batch of characters just as wonderfully strange and detailed as those found in Doom Patrol Morrison told tales of time travel, and reality-warping that referenced everything from Romantic poets to eastern religions and cross-dressing culture. With complex storytelling and a penchant for creating more questions than answers, Morrison showed just how mentally challenging comics could be.

New X-Men
In 2001 Morrison was called in to help restart the X-Men franchise after Marvel's troubled years that saw the company go bankrupt. Right off the bat Morrison caused controversy when he killed sixteen million mutants that lived in Genosha. From there Morrison proceeded to detail second-stage mutation, introduced the pensive, zen-like Xorn, and had the X-Men oust themselves as mutants and open a global corporation to aid mutants. Perhaps most importantly though Morrison focused on the fact that mutants are inherently different from humans, sometimes in startlingly physical ways that create fear and hatred. It was this idea coupled with the marital problems of Cyclops and Jean Grey that brought a hefty does of psychological conflict to a typically action-packed series.

Batman
Most recently (in 2006) Morrison took over writing duties on Batman. Again Morrison was not simply content to tell typical Batman tales, but added complex new issues into Batman's world by referencing long forgotten plot lines from the past. Morrison introduces Damian, the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul and right away adds emotional conflict to the series as we see Bruce dealing with the fact that his "real" son is nearly as crazed as his grandfather, while his newly adopted son, Time Drake (the current Robin) must deal with the fact that Bruce now has another son in his life. Since then Morrison has focused on a number of psychologically complex themes including Bruce Wayne's time spent in an absolute isolation, The Joker's new and more disturbed state, three cops programmed as Batmen, a club of heroes who all use Batman as an inspiration, and the current Batman RIP storyline that has Bruce Wayne slowly descending into madness, while a group of villains known as the Black Glove take over Wayne Manner and the Batcave.